Here’s What You Missed This Morning at TBD Law

August 15th, 2016

It’s the first day of TBD Law, where a group of innovative lawyers from the United States, Canada, and Europe is brainstorming about how to shape the future of law and help solosmall lawyers succeed in an ever-changing world. Here’s what happens when you gather entrepreneurs, legal hackers, and trailblazers to talk about what works for them, what doesn’t work for them, who they are, and where they hope to be.

How would you explain who you serve, what you do for them, and why it matters in a mere 17 words?

With only 17 words, the group was forced to get to the very core of their practice. Here are some of the answers.

Who do you help, and why?

Sometimes, other lawyers are the clients.

In small groups, people have also grappled with questions like:

What part of your daily routine would you most like to eliminate?

What is a new market you’d like to expand into or practice more in?

Clients would value lawyers more if…

What is the best marketing advice you’ve ever received?

Here are some things people have discovered during those brainstorming exercises:

Sometimes, lawyers implement tech solutions like secure client portals, but it’s difficult to get client buy-in. We have to learn to “onboard” our own clients sometimes.

Lawyers are concerned about how to reach out to younger people. Do millennials want different modes of communication? How do we (metaphorically) meet people where they live?

What do you do when your practice is based on “one and done” events like bankruptcy? How do you continue to stay in touch? What can you expand to offer?

Sometimes the most low-tech ways, like handwritten thank-you notes, are the very best ways to indicate to a client that their business was appreciated.

How do we convince clients of our value, rather than being perceived as an unpleasant expense?

We’ll be talking much more about the challenges and opportunities that smart future-minded lawyers are discovering as the event goes on.